Flies for Hickory Shad

[pillcaster]

Thinking about hitting the tidewater VA rivers in hope of getting into the spring hickory shad run. Anyone want to share a pattern or 2 for me to tie up?

[ScottP]

My go-to shad "fly" for the past 10 years has been a 1/16 oz crappie jig with a Mr. Twister tail; no fun at all to cast on a 6wt using a T250 line, but where I fish on the Potomac, gotta get it down where they swim. I've been tying up some salmon/steelhead flies for an upcoming trip that I've used in various forms for shad, with some success:

Sockeye Charlie




Kilowatt



Hot Shot Comet (for shad, you'd probably want heavier dumbell eyes)



If you're interested, you can find the SBS's in the index. Hope the run's a good one for you this year.

Regards,
Scott

ps - hard to imagine shad fishing right now (6" and more to come)

[pillcaster]

thanks scott
weve got at least 8", but talking about highs in the 50's next week.
are these size 6's?

[ScottP]

Charlie and the Comet are; you could certainly tie the Kilowatt on a #6. Yeah, by next week most of this stuff will be on it's way to the Chesapeake.

Regards,
Scott

[whatfly]

Never fished for Hickory shad, but drawing from Scott's suggestions, looks like they take the same flies as American shad, which are still fairly common out here. I do not have any photos of my own patterns, but in my area basic shad patterns are bead chain or dumbell eyes, and something bright on a #6-8 nickel-plated hook (e.g. Eagle Claw 1197N). A local favorite is the "Wet Pinky". Another you might try is the "Bowstring" which is has bead chain eyes, short tail (marabou or globug yarn), Amnesia abdomen, and chenille head. Here's a commercial western tier's list of patterns which might be helpful.

One trick that has become more common on our rivers, and may well work in yours as well, is to use smaller flies as droppers. They are quite often the most productive fly of the day. I for example put glass beads on a scud hook (5 green, one black as the head) and secure with monofilament thread, to make a quick and dirty caddis pattern that works quite well in our tailwaters. Might not work in a tidal estuary, if you can find some smaller hooks, try a few micro patterns (#12-10) as a dropper and see if it works out there too. Best of luck.

[john52948]

back in the early 70's I used to use a steel head pattern, called a thor. seems to me it was a red chennile body, white calf tail wing, and a brown hackle throat. tied it on a size 4 or 6 mustad 3906 and wrapped the body with lead. I would swing it across and down then give it a had over hand retrieve.

it worked well for shad, hickory shad and herring in the new England area.

[gerri]

HI PC,
This season, I plan to try a couple of the patterns Scott has posted previously. In the past, many of us who fish the tidal Potomac have tied Clouser minnows in pink over white or chartreuse over white..sz#4 or 6. Use calf tail. Good luck and pray for a spring thaw soon.

[gerri]

Hi again,
we got a full 12inches of snow yesterday (on the MD. SIDE OF THE RIVER) and if the temps predicted for next week can melt away all of this snow it would be just short of miraculous. We have ice under the snow that is thick and has to be broken to get rid of it. the snow melt doesn't seem to work very well unless we have a heat wave to get it going. As for the shad, here, we get the hickories running first and then the Americans start so all of them are mixed together . The same flies will usually work for both species. I would love to post some of my shad flies but lack the know how of getting them onto the site.

[ScottP]

I would love to post some of my shad flies but lack the know how of getting them onto the site.

gerri,

PM sent; would love to see your pics.

Regards,
Scott

[lee s]

We REALLY like ScottP's steelhead bugs he has posted here. (We like all his bugs he does here!) We are definitely planning to tie
some up in chartreuse and #6-#10 for our shad. Chartreuse has been our most productive color by far on the rivers we have fished shad from Wa. to Ca. Others swear by their own favs but.....
.....lee s.